


Better Man

by pterawaters



Series: Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hospitals, Medical, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-13 17:32:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1235059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melissa has a quiet moment in the hospital waiting room, letting the Sheriff rest on her shoulder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Narya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narya/gifts).



> [Prompted](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/post/77777498217/melissa-dealing-with-the-fact-that-the-sheriff-doesnt) by Narya: "Melissa dealing with the fact that the Sheriff doesn't think he'll ever love someone after Claudia. And loving him because of it."

Melissa sits in the waiting room of the hospital with a cold cup of vending machine coffee in her hands. It’s weird. There’s French Roast in the nurses’ break room. She could just go pour herself a cup and no one would mind. Hell, she’s one of maybe three people who actually bother to make the coffee in the first place. Everyone else just drinks it if it’s there.

The chairs in here are uncomfortable. Why didn’t she ever notice how uncomfortable they are? How do people sit in these chairs hour after hour, day after day, waiting to hear about their loved ones? John stirs in the chair beside Melissa, his head scooting over onto her shoulder.

Melissa’s heart breaks at the thought that this isn’t the first time John Stilinski has had to sleep in these chairs. He learned how to do it six years ago. Melissa watched him go through it then, and she hates watching him go through it again now.

Six years ago, Melissa was still married. She would watch John and Stiles spend as many waking hours – and some of their sleeping hours – as they could at Claudia’s bedside. She’d been jealous at the time. There was no way Rafael would give up his investigations, his _career_ , his _drink_ to keep watch over Melissa. It would never happen.

Watching John probably gave Melissa the idea to divorce her husband. God, she probably started falling in love with John back then.

Melissa knows John isn’t ready for a new relationship. He probably won’t ever be ready. He still wears his wedding ring. Melissa wonders if he’s ever taken it off since the day he got married. (Part of her brain wonders how well John washes his hands and if that ring is a reservoir of pathogens.) It’s romantic. John is romantic. John is everything Rafael could have been if he’d been the man Melissa thought she was marrying.

Sighing, Melissa shifts her weight to make John more comfortable. He needs all the sleep he can get. In the morning, Melissa’s colleagues are operating on John’s son.

**Author's Note:**

> You can visit me [](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/>on%20tumblr</a>.)


End file.
